Magic angle and plasmon mode engineering in twisted trilayer graphene with pressure

Zewen Wu, Xueheng Kuang, Zhen Zhan, and Shengjun Yuan
Phys. Rev. B 104, 205104 – Published 5 November 2021

Abstract

Recent experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrate that twisted trilayer graphene (tTLG) is a highly tunable platform to study the correlated insulating states, ferromagnetism, and superconducting properties. Here we explore the possibility of tuning electronic correlations of the tTLG via a vertical pressure. A full tight-binding model is used to accurately describe the pressure-dependent interlayer interactions. Our results show that pressure can push a relatively larger twist angle (for instance, 1.89) tTLG to reach the flat-band regime. Next, we obtain the relationship between the pressure-induced magic angle value and the critical pressure. These critical pressure values are almost half of that needed in the case of twisted bilayer graphene. Then, plasmonic properties are further investigated in the flat-band tTLG with both zero-pressure magic angle and pressure-induced magic angle. Two plasmonic modes are detected in these two kinds of flat-band samples. By comparison, one is a high energy damping-free plasmon mode that shows similar behavior, and the other is a low energy plasmon mode (flat-band plasmon) that shows obvious differences. The flat-band plasmon is contributed by both interband and intraband transitions of flat bands, and its divergence is due to the various shape of the flat bands in tTLG with zero-pressure and pressure-induced magic angles. This may provide an efficient way of tuning between regimes with strong and weak electronic interactions in one sample and overcoming the technical requirement of precise control of the twist angle in the study of correlated physics.

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  • Received 5 August 2021
  • Revised 12 October 2021
  • Accepted 27 October 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.205104

©2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Physical Systems
Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsPlasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Zewen Wu1,2, Xueheng Kuang1,3, Zhen Zhan1,*, and Shengjun Yuan1,2,†

  • 1Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of the Ministry of Education and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
  • 2Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Heijendaalseweg 135, NL-6525 AJ Nijmegen, Netherlands
  • 3Imdea Nanoscience, Faraday 9, 28015 Madrid, Spain

  • *Corresponding author: zhen.zhan@whu.edu.cn
  • Corresponding author: s.yuan@whu.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 104, Iss. 20 — 15 November 2021

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